A large crowd attended the grand opening of the new STEM Academy at A.L. Brown High School on Sunday afternoon, including parents, politicians, students and people who were just curious about what the new $8.1 million, 50,000-square-foot facility had to offer the community.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum aims to provide students with a greater advantage in the growing fields of science and technology.
Danita Rickard, chairperson for the Kannapolis City Schools Board of Education, described the journey taken to create the facility -- which includes seven classrooms, 12 science labs, six prep rooms and two computer labs -- and the financial struggles along the way, including a hold on the project after the economic downturn in 2008.
“We applaud the Cabarrus County Commissioners for eventually making this project a priority capital expense and we thank the taxpayers of Cabarrus County for making this construction possible,” Rickard said.
As Rickard reminded the crowd “the public does own our schools,” and they are open to every child.
Many of those students, who began taking classes at the academy earlier this year, were on hand Sunday to showcase some of the technology being used.
Daniel Maturano hooked a model dragster to a computer, imputing program information into a small on-board computer that is used to drive the machine. Several of those gathered for the event watched as Maturano sent his car racing through one of the classrooms.
Nearby, seniors Katie Belk and Lindsey Beaver built a model bridge, while explaining to passers-by about how the design of the structure creates rigidity and support.
The advantages a program like STEM can give students is immeasurable and invaluable, speakers at Sunday’s event said.
A.L. Brown principal Kevin Garay thanked those involved in the project for allowing the opportunity for the students to go beyond what is expected.
“It will always be about our students,” he said.
Twenty-five-year-old Sai Lao, a graduate of A.L. Brown, is working at the UNC-Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) while earning a master's degree. He described the important contribution to the city the research campus is and the exciting possibilities the STEM Academy will offer the students who wish to explore a role in technology and science.
David H. Murdock, founder of the NCRC and chairman of Dole Food Company and Castle Cooke, Inc., also spoke at Sunday’s ceremony.
“I watched thousands of people lose their jobs, and I heard people say that Kannapolis is finished. No jobs and no opportunities,” he said.
He admitted to feeling that way himself, and wondered what he could do. He explained people told him nothing could be done to help Kannapolis, because all the community knew was textiles.
“I began to dream. My thought was you could make a dream in your mind's eye, and then make that dream become a reality -- express opportunities that were never dreamed before,” Murdock said.
A firm believer in knowledge being power, Murdock set out to create a Kannapolis that would be a scientific center.
According to Murdock, the STEM Academy and the work done at the NCRC will be recognized for its intellectual contributions not just throughout the state, but the world.
“Not many of us would have ever dreamed that this would become a scientific center,” Murdock said.
“The impossible really only takes thoughts to change into the possible.”
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement